Highland View Elementary Getting Three New Classrooms By Fall

will get three new classes by the fall to ease the space issues that the school has been experiencing.

Erin Green, School Business Manager for the district, said that the offices will be moved from Highland View to into the former wood shop class.

One Highland View classroom will be added in the current Park and Rec offices and the two others will be where the computer lab and library are, taking part of the library. Less than $500,000 will be spent this summer on the three new classrooms.

The school board and district will bring the issue of moving the district offices to make more space for Highland View and reassessing the situation after the summer once the exact number of pupils entering the school district is known, said Green.

"Due to the lack of a state budget for 2011-13 so far, GSD (district) is hesitant to commit to spending over half a million dollars for classrooms without knowing the exact parameters of our funding," Green said.

A elementary space committee was put in place to assess the elevating enrollment numbers in the elementary schools. The committee advised the board to keep the district offices out of the schools.

"Once we know our enrollment in the fall, we may reconvene a team, not sure," Green said. "We also know the 2012-13 budget year will be a hard one, as state revenue has dropped, maybe permanently. So we must be aware of the budget as we look at options and assess carefully."

The Highland View space issue was not on last night's agenda and will most likely not be on the summer's agendas, Green said.